Aircraft cabin floor mats, for example aircraft galley floor mats have a problem of bubbling and/or buckling during flight. The floor mat is air impermeable. The bubbling and/or buckling of the floor mat is caused by air trapped under the floor mat when the floor mat is first installed and adhered to the subfloor.
As represented in FIG. 1, when securing the air impermeable floor mat 2 to the top surface 4 of the subfloor, an adhesive 6, for example double sided tape is applied to the top surface 4 of the subfloor around the periphery of the subfloor. This creates a loop pattern of adhesive 6 on the top surface 4 of the subfloor. Additional adhesive may be applied to the top surface 4 of the subfloor inside the loop pattern of adhesive 6.
As represented in FIG. 2, the bottom surface of the air impermeable floor mat 2 is then positioned on the top surface 4 of the subfloor. The periphery of the air impermeable floor mat 2 is secured to the subfloor 4 by the loop pattern of adhesive 6 applied to the periphery of the subfloor 4. At times air filled voids or air pockets 8 are trapped between the floor mat 2 and the subfloor top surface 4 by the loop pattern of adhesive 6 that secures the periphery of the floor mat 2 to the subfloor top surface 4. When the floor mat 2 is first installed and taped down, the air filled voids or air pockets 8 trapped under the floor mat 2 are at ambient pressure. During manufacture of the aircraft, the ambient pressure is typically sea level pressure. When the aircraft is in flight and climbs to altitude, the aircraft cabin is adjusted to atmospheric pressure conditions of equivalent to about 8,000 feet which is reduced from that of the under-mat pressure during mat installation. The air pockets or air filled voids 8 beneath the floor mat 2 are therefore at a higher pressure than the aircraft air above the floor mat 2. Thus, the air pockets or air filled voids 8 trapped beneath the floor mat 2 expand due to the lower pressure above the floor mat 2. This results in bubbling and/or buckling of the floor mat 2 as represented by the dashed lines in FIG. 2. This bubbling and/or buckling of the floor mat 2 detracts from the appearance of the floor mat 2 in the aircraft cabin and introduces a potential for passenger or flight crew tripping over the bubbles and/or buckling in the aircraft cabin.
A current solution is to add more adhesive 6 or double sided tape between the bottom surface of the air impermeable floor mat 2 and the top surface 4 of the subfloor. However, even adding more adhesive 6 between the air impermeable floor mat 2 bottom surface and the subfloor top surface 4 cannot guarantee that all trapped air between the floor mat 2 and subfloor 4 is eliminated and bubbling and/or buckling may still occur. Additionally, adhering or taping the entire bottom surface of the air impermeable floor mat 2 to the top surface 4 of the subfloor makes it difficult to replace the floor mat 2 when needed.
Providing the floor mat 2 with small perforations to allow trapped air pockets to escape from between the floor mat 2 and the subfloor 4 through the floor mat perforations is also problematic. The perforations in the floor mat 2 would eventually become clogged with dirt or debris tracked through the aircraft cabin or aircraft galley. With the perforations being clogged, they would cease to allow air to escape from the air filled voids 8 trapped between the floor mat 2 and the subfloor 4. Additionally, the debris clogging the perforations in the floor mat 2 would be difficult to clean.